About Scratch Art

Scratch Art is a tattoo community group book project that was originally conceived in the Spring of 2007. Although very different from tattooing in many ways, the scratchboard medium has a number of similarities to tattooing that make the two media an interesting compliment to each other. For starters, both mediums require a certain amount of planning and preparation before getting started, or a mess could result. They are both done by using a sharp implement on a receptive surface, and neither allow for easy erasing. With so many talented artists working in the tattoo field these days, it was natural to be curious to see what a broad cross section of the industry would do with the medium.

A year later, the book was officially released at a pair of tattoo conventions, the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention in April and the Hell City Tattoo Fest in May. At Hell City, we were provided with a room to present the entire collection of original scratchboards as well as plenty of room to lay out the books themselves and to hold an opening reception for the whole project. This will be followed in July 2008 by an exhibition at Canvas LA in Los Angeles. Opening night for this show will be July 19, and the collection will hang until mid-August.

Because Scratch Art was such an artistic success, we plan on doing a second edition in the next couple years; this time, since so many tattooists are now regularly using the medium, we plan on making an open invitation to submit scratch pieces online. For news about this and other upcoming projects and events, you can sign up for our newsletter by clicking the Subscribe button at www.hyperspaceastudios.com.